


Girls' Day Out

by tptplayer5701



Series: "Mind Games"-verse [19]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Female Friendship, Friendship, Good Friend Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Good Parent Sabine Cheng, Identity Reveal, Kwami & Miraculous Lore, New Miraculous, Post-Hawk Moth Defeat, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Sabine Cheng Knows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:20:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24960730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tptplayer5701/pseuds/tptplayer5701
Summary: A "Mind Games"-verse "Spring Break" storyMarinette and the visitors were speaking quietly in English when Kagami walked in, but immediately broke off their conversation when the door closed. “Kagami!” Marinette called as Kagami walked across the entryway to meet them. “I would like you to meet–”Marinette was cut off abruptly when a small silver blur shot out of the pile of luggage, floated up to hover in front of Kagami’s face, folded its arms, and fixed her with a glare. “All right,” the silver Kwami – it could only be a Kwami – almost shouted, “where is that stupid dragon?”
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Kagami Tsurugi, Sabine Cheng & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: "Mind Games"-verse [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1666807
Comments: 27
Kudos: 41





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is the end of the “Mind Games”-verse “Spring Break” arc, so there are references and callbacks to pretty much everything between “The Press Conference” and “A Funny Thing Happened While You Were Away.” Specifically, this is a sequel to “A Miraculous Adventure in America” and “Purity and Corruption,” featuring characters, concepts, and events from both those stories and to some extent bringing the events of “A Miraculous Adventure” and “The Queen is Dead” back together.

Marinette carefully balanced the tray across her arms as she carried it over to the table. She had been awake since five and unable to go back to sleep – a consequence, she supposed, of having slept for most of her trans-Atlantic flight the day before. Perhaps she and Adrien could have just stayed in Paris when Pegasus brought them home with the Dark Sword, but if they had, their passports would have been missing an entry stamp for France – and that would have raised all kinds of questions the next time they tried to travel _anywhere_. Instead they had returned to Colorado and flown to New York to meet Mme Legrand and sit in on the last meeting with the New York distributors. Thanks to the six flights, two portals and at least a dozen time zones she’d traveled through over the break, Marinette’s internal clock had finally broken somewhere over the Atlantic. The only benefit of her messed-up sleep schedule was that it had given her an opportunity to make a few batches of pastries from scratch for breakfast with her friend.

“Are you sure you don’t want help with that, Mar?” Kagami asked, indicating the tray.

“Oh, no,” Marinette called back happily, “I can handle it!”

Kagami gave her a skeptical look. “Are you sure? Because I’ve heard all the stories about your clumsiness, and the last thing we want is for this amazing-looking breakfast to end up on the floor!”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Chloe,” she grumbled. “I need to have another talk with that girl about telling stories on me. Ladybug has a reputation to keep up, you know…”

“Um… it wasn’t Chloe actually.”

“Alya?” Kagami shook her head. “Juleka?” Again, Kagami shook her head.

“You can guess all the girls you know and never get it,” Kagami told her, eyes glinting with amusement. “But if you want a _hint_ , your fiancé would be very upset if he found out that you knew he’d told me!”

“Adrien… and to think I was going to bring him the leftover pastries!”

Kagami smirked. “You assume there will be any left!”

“No, I do not,” Marinette giggled, setting the tray down and pouring two cups of tea. She grabbed a pain au chocolat and sat down, as Kagami helped herself to a scone and handed a small piece to Longg, who sat on the table between them and leaned against the teapot next to Tikki.

“Thank you for inviting me over for breakfast, especially when you haven’t even been home for a day!” Kagami told her, biting into the scone.

Marinette grinned and broke off a piece of her pain au chocolat for Tikki. “It feels like we haven’t done this in forever!”

“Well, you were busy doing exciting _business meetings_ on the other side of the world,” Kagami commented. “Is the world of high fashion entering a new golden age of enlightenment thanks to your brilliant design aesthetic?”

Marinette laughed. “The way our South American distributor was talking, it _should_ be. Of course,” she added, “Adrien and I hardly went to any of the business meetings. Our _other_ job got in the way.”

“You mean…”

“We met the American Miraculous holders,” Marinette explained, nodding. “It was… quite the adventure. Although from what the others say, _you_ had one of those, also.”

Kagami shrugged. “I suppose so. I did get to turn into a Storm and electrocute a water demon, so that’s something new!”

“Kagami has progressed faster than many of my previous holders, Guardian-San,” Longg added, helping himself to a sardine from the bowl Marinette had placed on the tray for him. He tossed it in the air and charred it with his breath before it landed in his mouth.

“Thank you, Longg-Sama,” Kagami told him, inclining her head slightly.

“You… actually turned into a Storm?” Marinette pressed, raising her eyebrows in surprise. “You can do that?”

Kagami nodded. “I was surprised, too. Longg only mentioned it once, but that was the only way for us to stop the demon without destroying the city, since _someone_ was on a plane to South America at the time!”

“Well, what’s the point of having a team if I can’t rely on my team to fight water demons while I’m getting engaged?” Marinette giggled.

“Congratulations, by the way!” Kagami told her, raising her teacup in a toast. “I am so excited for you both! Even if this will mean less chances to see my two best friends…”

“Don’t worry,” Marinette assured her, reaching across and taking her hand, “we aren’t going to stop being friends or stop hanging out with anyone just because we’re engaged! In fact, this could mean _more_ excuses for your mother to let you out of the house…”

“You mean convincing my mother to hire Pegasus as my tutor wasn’t enough?” Kagami arched an eyebrow at her.

“He told you?”

“On day one,” Kagami confirmed, giggling.

“I’m glad that worked out so well,” Marinette told her.

“We did have a couple of actual tutoring sessions, although I spent much more time with friends.”

“Did you listen to Kitty Section rehearse after all?”

“I did,” Kagami nodded. “They are very good, though I thought I recognized a couple of their songs from somewhere…”

Marinette glanced down at the table and caught Tikki’s eye. The Kwami had a mischievous glint in her eye, and Marinette smirked. “I can’t imagine where you would have heard their songs before,” she commented. “Could they have been on the radio?”

Kagami frowned. “No… these were their newer songs, not ones on the radio…”

“Might you have heard them before in a different context?”

“Kagami rarely listens to music,” Longg observed. He frowned suspiciously on seeing the amused expression on Tikki’s face.

“I suppose there are only a couple of other musicians you really listen to,” Marinette agreed. “Adrien, of course.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard him play apart from Kitty Section,” replied Kagami with a frown. “The only other musician I know is Viperion.”

“Huh.” Marinette hid her smirk behind her teacup. “Well, you’ll get another chance to figure it out at the gala next month. Your mother is still allowing you to attend, right?”

“Of course,” Kagami assured her. “It is an ‘excellent opportunity to improve relations with an important client and seek new business,’ according to her.”

“I told you playing up that this is an Agreste event would work!”

Kagami laughed. “I never should have doubted the great and powerful Ladybug! Will our dresses be ready in time?”

“Is there any doubt?” Marinette replied cheekily. “You have no idea how much extra time I have on my hands now that I have a team and don’t have to go out on patrol _every_ night!”

“I don’t know,” argued Kagami, “I went out with Viperion, Bengalia, and Hato Gozen practically every night over break and it was amazing. No Mother, no expectations, just me hanging out with friends.”

Marinette smiled. “That’s the part Adrien loves the most about it, too: the freedom.”

“That boy certainly doesn’t get enough freedom,” Marinette’s mother called, pushing the apartment door open and stepping into the room. Marinette hid a laugh as Longg phased through the table and Kagami’s eyes widened in fear. Her mother, however, merely looked at the table where Tikki was still sitting and calmly munching on a croissant, then back at Kagami, studying her features carefully for a moment. “Let me guess,” she began, “Ryoku?”

Kagami spit out her mouthful of scone and sputtered out a hasty denial. Marinette burst out laughing. “Please don’t tell my mother!” Kagami begged, grabbing a napkin to blot up the tea she’d spilled.

“Your secret is safe with me, dear,” Marinette’s mother promised, patting Kagami on the shoulder reassuringly. “After all, we somehow managed to avoid the subject of our daughter’s extracurricular activities in our annual Christmas letter: ‘Oh, and by the way, my daughter and her friends managed to defeat her boyfriend’s terrorist father over the summer and we are so very proud of them!’”

Marinette burst out laughing as Kagami’s eyes darted back and forth between Marinette and her mother in utter bewilderment. Taking pity on her, Marinette explained, “My parents figured us out after we defeated Hawk Moth.”

“And they aren’t upset with you?” Kagami asked, looking at Marinette’s mother in surprise. Longg phased back through the table and glared at Tikki reproachfully. Tikki fell over on her back laughing.

“Why should we be upset?” her mother asked, sitting down at one of the empty chairs and snagging a croissant. “My daughter and her friends are superheroes. Considering the number of times you all have saved Paris… any parent would be proud. And not just because she’s mastered her father’s croissant recipe!”

Kagami scoffed. “Not every parent.”

“Don’t sell your mother short,” her mother advised. “She should be proud that her daughter cares so much about other people.” She glanced down at the table, noticed Longg, and set a small plate in front of him. “Oh, and I suppose you would be the reason Marinette asked about fish oil macaroons this morning?”

“Mama,” Marinette told her delicately, “there’s a reason Mme Tsurugi got along so well with M. Agreste. They had… similar parenting styles.”

Her mother’s eyebrows rose, even as Kagami buried her face in her hands. “Another one?” her mother asked, clucking her tongue and shaking her head. “At least your mother isn’t a super-villain, right, dear?”

“Um, as far as I know she isn’t,” Kagami assured her. “Although I suppose that’s a matter of perspective. She does seem hell-bent on getting me into the family business sooner than later.”

Marinette hummed and stroked her chin contemplatively. “Mama, didn’t Papa say something about wanting help with a new advertisement?” she asked, winking at her mother.

“Hm? Oh! Now that you mention it, I think he did say something about that last week,” her mother agreed. “He’s got some ideas for a new slogan to match our new macaroon flavors, but _I_ think they need some… help.”

“Do you think your mother would let you handle a new client?” Marinette asked Kagami, smirking. “It might take up a _lot_ of your time… _weeks_ of coming over to taste the new macaroons and listen to my Papa’s bakery humor!”

Kagami pretended to think for a minute. “I think I might be able to sell her on letting me handle a new client,” she decided. She smirked. “How terrible: another excuse to hang out with a friend!”

“Speaking of, I think I’m going to take a nap after this, and then go over to the Mansion. Is your mother okay with you hanging out with me there this afternoon?”

“No,” replied Kagami with an exaggerated pout. She smirked. “However, she did accept my reasoning that Agreste is one of our most important clients in Paris and thus requires a liberal use of personnel resources for ‘client relations’ – or something like that. I mean… if we’re not careful, Agreste could jump ship and sign with another advertising firm, right?”

Marinette giggled. “Yeah… Adrien did receive a phone call a couple weeks ago from a new advertiser trying to undercut the Tsurugi Group,” she confirmed.

“Is he considering their proposal?” Kagami asked innocently.

Marinette furrowed her brow then nodded in understanding. “… which answer helps our case the most?” she finally asked, stifling a smirk.

“‘He’s on the fence,’” Kagami supplied, eyes glinting mischievously.

“He’s on the fence,” Marinette repeated dutifully.

“See?” Kagami asked, shaking her head in mock horror. “I guess I need to step in and do some damage control so we can keep our most important French client!”

Marinette glanced up at her mother, who was watching them with some amusement. “Dear, where did you learn to be so devious and manipulative?” she asked.

“Adrien,” Marinette replied honestly. “You would be amazed how often we used ‘study session’ or ‘group project’ as an excuse for his father to let him out of the house.”

“You’ve never done that to me, have you?” Her mother’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.

Marinette flushed. “Um… you mean other than Akuma fights?”

“Just don’t do it again, dear, especially now that we all know,” her mother told her. “Remember, no running off without saying anything like you did last week! The least you could have done was call!”

“Mme Legrand told you about that?”

“You disappeared for a week in Peru and then turned up in New York without any explanation. Did you think she _wouldn’t_ mention it to us?”

“Sorry, Mama,” Marinette apologized. She smirked. “Don’t worry: the next time we go on a trans-continental road trip to recover a stolen miraculous and acquire a weapon used to murder me in a dystopian post-apocalyptic future… we’ll let you know.”

Her mother, Kagami, and Longg all stared at her dumbfounded.

“What?”


	2. Chapter 2

After having lunch with Juleka, Rose, and Luka near the Seine, Kagami walked the couple kilometers to the Agreste Mansion to find Marinette. She wasn’t sure what to expect there, but on walking through the front doors she was surprised to see that Marinette was waiting for her alongside a pair of visitors, beside the huge pile of luggage sitting on the floor just inside the doorway. One of the visitors was a girl a couple of years younger than them with a dark complexion and black hair held back with a mint-green hair clip. The woman standing beside her appeared to be in her mid-twenties with light blonde hair and a deep tan. She was just in the process of pulling one of her beaded earrings out of the grip of the toddler she was bouncing on her hip. Kagami didn’t know anything about children, but still wondered at why a mother would wear such dangly earrings while holding a toddler…

Marinette and the visitors were speaking quietly in English when Kagami walked in, but immediately broke off their conversation when the door closed. “Kagami!” Marinette called as Kagami walked across the entryway to meet them. “I would like you to meet–”

Marinette was cut off abruptly when a small silver blur shot out of the pile of luggage, floated up to hover in front of Kagami’s face, folded its arms, and fixed her with a glare. “All right,” the silver Kwami – it could _only_ be a Kwami – almost shouted, “where is that _stupid_ dragon?”

Kagami leaned her head back slightly so she could get a better look at the Kwami, which had triangular ears sitting atop its rounded head. The nose and mouth protruded slightly in an approximation of a snout. Kagami was just about to respond when Longg phased out of her jacket pocket and floated up to interpose himself between her and the newcomer.

“Ah! Mettli-Sama!” Longg greeted the Kwami, spreading his arms out wide and dipping his head in a bow. “It has been far too long! The Guardians had not mentioned that you were coming to visit. To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?”

“You never call, you never write…” Mettli growled, slapping one paw against the other for emphasis. “Do you have any idea how lonely Rexx has been for the last few millennia???”

“I do apologize for the lack of contact, my friend,” Longg replied smoothly. “Our Guardians so rarely sent my miraculous out of the temple, and even then it was not further than China as often as not. Of course, with Rexx in your set, I suppose they rarely had cause to send me to America. But how is my counterpart?”

“Taken by some lowdown scoundrel who wants to use him to cause mayhem, no doubt – and you _know_ the kind of mayhem he can cause! He’s _here_ in Paris, though I can’t exactly sense him yet,” grumbled Mettli. She poked Longg in the chest. “I’m going to get him _back_ , and you’d better help me or so help me I’ll–” The Kwami yelped involuntarily as the toddler grabbed her out of midair and shoved her head into his mouth, sucking on it happily, clapping his hands and giggling.

Kagami stared in shock at the unusual sight. The blonde woman gently removed the Kwami’s head from her son’s mouth, whereupon the Kwami began licking her paws and rubbing her fur furiously. The girl was covering her mouth to stifle a laugh; Kagami could actually hear muffled laughter coming from the girl’s pocket. Marinette, meanwhile, was watching Kagami’s reaction, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

“Um, does someone want to fill me in on what just happened?” Kagami asked, giving Marinette a pointed look.

“As I was going to say,” Marinette began, allowing herself a laugh, “This is Julia and Lise. The little one is Julia’s son Marco. They are visiting from the American Miraculous Temple to help us with our little… Lynchpin problem.”

“Mettli is the Kwami of Unity,” Longg explained, turning a flip to bring himself out of Marco’s reach. “She has the ability to sense other Kwamis, but she can also become… overprotective toward those with whom she is the closest.” He bowed slightly toward Mettli. “My counterpart, Rexx, the Dinosaur Kwami, is part of her miraculous set and unfortunately it has been a couple millennia of your years since last I saw him.”

“Well, now you’re going to get a chance to see him whether you like it or not,” Mettli grumbled, folding her arms.

“What is she talking about?” Kagami asked, her eyes darting between Marinette, Julia, Lise, and the Kwamis. A mint-and-yellow Kwami floated out of Lise’s pocket and joined the others.

“Two of the Americans’ miraculous were stolen last week,” answered Marinette, grimacing. “By Lynchpin.”

Kagami’s jaw dropped. “Wait… you’re saying that not only does he have Night Bat _and_ the Bee Miraculous, but he also has two more???”

“Pretty much.”

“But–that–I–augh!” Kagami groaned. “This is insane! What are we supposed to do about all of this?”

The newcomers both started giggling, and Julia commented, “Algunas cosas no necesitan traducción.” [Some things don’t need translation]

“Sí, claro,” Lise agreed, laughing. [Yes, certainly]

“Sí, pero todavía tengo unas preguntas para Ustedes,” Kagami replied. [Yes, but I still have some questions for you.]

“¿Habla español? ¡Mucho gusto!” Julia responded, smiling widely. [You speak Spanish? Nice to meet you!]

“Sí, hablo español, pero… mal,” Kagami answered. grimacing. [Yes, I speak Spanish, but poorly.]

“I didn’t know you spoke Spanish,” Marinette commented, raising an eyebrow at her.

Kagami shrugged. “Mother was trying to open an office in Madrid a couple years ago, and she insisted that I learn Spanish. The office didn’t work out so I hardly use it. So… missing miraculous?”

“Missing miraculous,” Marinette nodded. “Lynchpin has four now, so Julia is here to help us locate them.”

Julia whispered something to Lise, who translated. “Unfortunately, her ability to sense miraculous works best on miraculous and users that she has interacted with. Marinette has already told us about the Bee Miraculous, but it will help to know something about this other miraculous at play.”

Kagami narrowed her eyes at the newcomers. After she and Viperion were nearly tricked by Night Bat the week before, she felt some reluctance to trust any unknown miraculous users appearing out of the blue, especially in handing over information to them that might be turned against her and her teammates. She glanced at Marinette questioningly, who gave her a subtle nod. _If Marinette trusts them, I suppose I can give them the benefit of the doubt._

“The Dove and Bat Miraculous form a balanced pair, embodying Purity and Corruption,” Kagami began, speaking slowly as Lise translated. “It sounds similar to the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous. Or to how Longg has described the Dragon and… I’m sorry, is it the _Dinosaur_ Miraculous?”

Julia nodded and said something to Lise. “The Wolf Miraculous also forms a balanced pair,” Lise translated, “with the Eagle Miraculous.”

“According to their users, they have been locked in conflict across the world for millennia,” Kagami continued. “I _think_ the Bat Miraculous user – he calls himself Night Bat – said that he has held this miraculous for over a millennium–” Marinette’s eye’s shot wide open at that – “but that sounds crazy, right? Hato Gozen – the Dove Miraculous user – told us that both miraculous came originally from Atlantis.”

Kagami cut off her explanation as Marinette and Julia shared a surprised look. “Atlantis?” Marinette gasped. “Are you sure?”

Kagami shrugged. “That’s what she said.”

“That would be correct,” Tikki squeaked, phasing out of Marinette’s purse and hovering next to Mettli. “After all, the miraculous all originated from Atlantis… before Plagg destroyed it, that is.”

“Originally there were five miraculous sets, all kept in the Great Temple of the Miraculous which the Mage founded at the center of Atlantis,” Mettli explained. “However, four of the sets were sent away for their own protection before the island’s destruction. One went to Australia, one to Africa, Tikki’s to Asia, and mine to the Americas, with the last remaining on Atlantis.”

“Why did you not tell us about this sooner?” Julia asked.

“The knowledge of the other sets was considered far too dangerous after Atlantis fell,” Tikki answered. “The earliest guardians at each new temple knew–”

“–Wonder-Mother incorporated it into her mosaic, even,” Mettli interrupted, giving Marinette and Julia a pointed look.

Tikki frowned at her but continued, “The earliest guardians knew, but they did not write it down and did not pass the knowledge on to their new initiates. Within two generations of guardians, the knowledge became lost entirely, such that only the Kwamis themselves knew of the other sets’ existence – and even so we did not know the locations of the other temples. Kaalki’s user transported the other sets and their guardians to the mainland, but the rest of the journey was made by foot – even Kaalki has never been to the other temples. They were worried that if any single temple were threatened or fell, the others could be jeopardized if the knowledge of their existence fell into the wrong hands.”

“So there _are_ other miraculous sets out there, then?” Julia asked. “We were right?”

Tikki nodded. “Don’t ask where the other temples are,” she warned. “None of the Kwamis know, and we wouldn’t be able to tell you if we did. But yes, there are other temples and other sets. The Atlantean set, however, was thought by the first Guardians to have been lost after the destruction of Atlantis.”

“That fits with what Hato Gozen told us,” Kagami confirmed.

“So then, could this mean that there are more miraculous floating around since the fall of Atlantis?” Marinette wondered.

Julia shrugged. “¿Por qué no?” [Why not?]

“I can’t imagine how lonely it has been for Paxx and the other Atlantean Kwamis,” observed Mettli with a glance at Tikki. “If, that is, they have been in the same situation as Paxx and Bella this whole time.”

“They must have become lost and divided up after Atlantis,” Tikki agreed. “That’s so sad. Kwamis work best together.”

“Well, what we should do with this information is a discussion we can save for another time,” Marinette decided. “Probably one we should have with the Dove Kwami. I would like to talk to Hato Gozen at some point anyways.”

“On the subject,” Kagami began, “she has been staying in an apartment my mother’s company rents for the last week, but that arrangement can’t last forever; we have a client arriving this weekend who will need that apartment. Do you know anywhere she can stay?”

Marinette frowned in contemplation. “Adrien does want to put this space to better use, so I suppose she could stay here. As long as Julia and Lise don’t mind, that is,” she responded, glancing at the other two. Seeing their nods she continued, “I would like to meet her first, however.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Kagami agreed. “I can introduce you. She was planning to go out again to look for Night Bat today anyways.”

“Then let’s do that now!” Marinette turned to Julia and Lise. “If you need to rest, we already have rooms ready for you,” she told them. “Before anything else I should probably handle this Dove situation – and check on the destruction that _water demon_ caused!” She arched an eyebrow at Kagami, who smirked unrepentantly.

Julia glanced at Lise, raised an eyebrow, and replied, “Actually, if Adrien will watch Marco, we’ll join you. After 13 hours on a plane, going for a run around the city to stretch our legs sounds like fun!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As with “A Miraculous Adventure in America,” some of the dialogue takes place in French and some does not. In general, English-language dialogue is in French (if Julia is speaking, then Lise is translating in this chapter). Kagami will speak Spanish with the Americans on a few occasions. Lise is Haitian, so she speaks French in addition to English and Spanish (and Creole, though that doesn’t factor in at all).
> 
> Yes, there is a bit of an “untrustworthy narrator” thing going on with the Guardians. The Kwamis do know a lot more than the Guardians do (they should; they’re essentially immortal demigods who predate the universe, after all!). The Guardians could conceivably force the Kwamis to explain everything to them, but the Guardians just don’t know to ask the questions. In “Running out of Time,” Plagg hinted at the same reasoning for why the Guardians never realized just how much of a counter to Tikki he really was – his desire to hide that information from all but a very select few is part of the reason behind his somewhat apathetic attitude (well, that and he’s a cat).


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Non-Canon Miraculous Users:  
> Lupa Gris – Julia (Wolf Miraculous)  
> Ayilon – Lise (Cicada Miraculous)  
> Hato Gozen – (Dove Miraculous)

Ladybug landed silently on the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower, followed by Ryoku, Lupa Gris, and Ayilon. In front of her stood a woman who appeared a couple years older than her in a sky blue skirt under a deep red form-fitting short-sleeved top. She had a red mask that covered the top half of her face and ended with a beak over her nose. “Hato Gozen?” Ladybug asked, holding out a hand.

“I take it you are Ladybug?” Hato Gozen replied, shaking her hand. “And who are your friends?”

“Lupa Gris and Ayilon are visiting from the American Temple of the Miraculous,” answered Ladybug. “They are here for the same reason Ryoku says that you are: we’ve all lost miraculous to Lynchpin, and we need to get them back.”

“I don’t know about _losing_ a miraculous,” Hato Gozen retorted. “The Bat was never mine to begin with, so it’s not like I could _lose_ it. I’ve just been chasing that monster all across the planet, trying to stop him from literally corrupting the world – him and his pet demon.”

“Hey, Ladybug isn’t blaming you for Night Bat,” Ryoku told her, stepping up next to Ladybug. “Any more than she’s to blame for the Bee, _or_ than anyone’s to blame for any of the other miraculous this nutcase has. Blaming one another and fighting each other isn’t going to solve anything. All we can do is try to stop these people. Your enemy teamed up with our enemy, so we need each other.”

Lupa Gris whispered something to Ayilon, who said, “Considering the danger posed by these miraculous in the wrong hands, we do all need to work together if we are going to stop our enemies.”

“Fine,” Hato Gozen grumbled. “We can do it your way. But after all the trouble he’s caused me, the Bat is _mine_ when we find him.”

“You won’t get any arguments from me,” Ayilon commented, grinning and twirling her bow. “Though I wouldn’t mind a chance to test his hearing first…”

“Please, child,” Hato Gozen scoffed. “You’re what, twelve? You wouldn’t stand a chance against him.”

“I’m fourteen,” retorted Ayilon. “And who says I can’t handle some stupid rat with wings?”

Lupa Gris put her hand on Ayilon’s shoulder, cutting off the rest of her retort. “No discutas, Ayilon,” she told her. “Necesitamos unirnos para derrotar nuestros enemigos.”

Ayilon folded her arms and glared at Hato Gozen.

“Lupa says – and I agree,” Ryoku translated, arching an eyebrow at Hato Gozen, “that we need to come together to defeat our enemies.”

Hato Gozen shrugged. “Sure. _You’re_ okay, Ryoku. But normally I work alone.”

“Considering that Lynchpin now has four miraculous, to say nothing of his manpower and whatever else he has, this isn’t the time for flying solo,” Ladybug told her.

“I’ve been on my own for seven years,” Hato Gozen insisted. “I’m fine hunting down the Bat by myself.”

“Have you ever even _had_ a team?” Ayilon asked, eyes widening in surprise.

“Well, not really.”

“You’ll love it,” Lupa Gris told her through Ayilon.

“Ugh, fine. Let’s just get a move on.”

Ladybug grinned and leapt backwards off the Tower, tossing out her yo-yo and catching it around a support beam. She swung around the tower once on the way to the ground. Above her, the others slid down the support struts and met her on the ground. She raced across the park toward the river, her companions hot on her heels, and turned up-river on the near riverbank. Without slowing her pace she leapt from the sidewalk, caught her yo-yo around a streetlight, swung around it, and flipped onto the roof of the closest building. A grunt and light footfall behind her indicated when Ryoku landed behind her, matching her pace.

“Hold up!” Lupa Gris shouted. Ladybug jumped across the next alleyway and stopped on the roof of an apartment building. “I sense a bunch of miraculous right along the river, right down there.” She pointed at a trio of houseboats a couple blocks upriver.

It took every ounce of self-restraint she possessed for Ladybug not to face-palm on recognizing one of the indicated boats as the _Liberty_ : of course there were miraculous there; Lupa Gris was sensing _Kitty Section_!

Seeing where Lupa Gris pointed, Ryoku commented, “I recognize a couple of those boats. The one closest to us is where Night Bat stayed his first night in Paris. Perhaps he returned.”

“You and Ayilon go and check it out,” Ladybug ordered, letting out a relieved breath.

Ryoku nodded, drew her sword, and raced across the rooftops, Ayilon at her side.

“You really cannot just say things like that,” Ladybug muttered to Lupa Gris in English when the other two were out of earshot. “Two of my teammates live down there – probably a couple more are on that boat with them right now – and as far as she has told me, Ryoku does not know any of their identities yet. We _are_ pretty secretive about our identities here, you know.”

Lupa Gris shrugged. “I cannot exactly turn it off,” she replied, also in English. “I actually sense a lot of miraculous in Paris, to be honest. I had no idea your team was so large!”

“Yeah,” answered Ladybug proudly. “We have fourteen miraculous heroes now, not counting you, Ayilon, or Hato Gozen. But that also does not count the Bee Miraculous that was stolen.”

“You have an enormous team!” Hato Gozen commented, eyes wide in surprise. “I had only met Ryoku, Viperion, and Bengalia before today.”

“And _none_ of them know each other’s identities?” Lupa Gris asked. “That must get very confusing!”

“A few do,” replied Ladybug, shrugging. “Some of us know everyone’s identities, and a few of the others have shared identities with each other, but we have left it up to them to decide who they tell.” She laughed. “Just about everyone knows who Cat Noir and I are at this point, and it was not until last year that I would even _consider_ letting anyone know who I was!”

“Cat Noir said as much,” Lupa Gris nodded. “So why the change?”

Ladybug shrugged and kicked a loose shingle, avoiding her companions’ eyes. “I realized that at a certain point the secrets were causing more problems between us than they were solving. Cat Noir revealed himself to Hawk Moth and nearly died because we did not trust each other with our identities. Since then it turns out that my parents have known ever since we defeated Hawk Moth – I guess we were not being as subtle as we thought!”

“Our group has never concerned ourselves with keeping identities secret,” commented Lupa Gris. “Not much point to keeping it a secret – at least among ourselves – when whoever has the Wolf Miraculous can sense miraculous users, is there?”

“What _is_ a secret identity?” Hato Gozen asked sardonically, arching an eyebrow and putting a hand on her hip. “At this point hardly anyone knows my name as anything other than ‘Hato Gozen’ – not since my mother went into hiding. But why should I give my true name to anyone? Or let anyone know what I look like without the mask? Anyone who knows could use that knowledge against me; it could easily find its way back to Night Bat, who would use it to destroy me.”

“Really? You have no one who cares about you?” Lupa Gris’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“Nope.”

“That… that’s intense,” Ladybug commented.

“I’m still alive, aren’t I?” Hato Gozen arched an eyebrow meaningfully.

Ladybug giggled. “We are still cautious, you know,” she told them. “Considering who Hawk Moth was, revealing out identities to the wrong person could have blown up in our faces really easily.”

“Yes, I suppose that is true,” Lupa Gris agreed. “I will avoid ‘outing’ any of your teammates. However, since I am unfamiliar with all of them and their miraculous, I cannot know whether I sense one of them or one of our enemies.”

Ladybug hummed thoughtfully. “That is a problem. Perhaps we should have a potluck this week so you can meet all of the Heroes of Paris!”

“I hope you plan on doing all the cooking, girly, because I can burn water!” Lupa Gris joked.

“I grew up in a bakery, so I was born with a spatula in my hand,” replied Ladybug, grinning.

Hato Gozen shook her head. “You two have fun with that.”

“Are you not going to come?” Ladybug asked. “Can you not cook?”

“I cook just fine,” retorted Hato Gozen. “But… I am not part of your team.”

“You are in my city,” replied Ladybug, “and ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend,’ correct?”

“I do not exactly fit in with your group,” Hato Gozen argued. “Ryoku said I needed to move somewhere new this week.”

“Ryoku’s mother is… strict.” Ladybug frowned and glanced over at the houseboats to see Ryoku and Ayilon already making their way back. “I assure you, she is not asking you to leave or trying to get rid of you. And neither am I.”

At that moment Ryoku landed on the roof and walked over to Ladybug, Ayilon trailing behind her. “The houseboat was deserted,” she reported in French. “Night Bat’s trunk was missing, but I did find a book in a language I do not know.” She held it out to Ladybug, who showed it to the others. “It was under the bed. He probably was reading it the one night he stayed there and forgot to repack it. Then Lynchpin’s people went to collect the trunk but didn’t know about the book.”

“I recognize this book,” Hato Gozen said, examining the cover closely. “My mother described a similar book which was found alongside the Dove Miraculous. My ancestor learned _magie arcane_ from it.”

“Having his spell book is a good thing, right?” Ayilon asked.

“It’s not a _bad_ thing,” Hato Gozen agreed, “but he probably doesn’t need it anymore. You forget, he has had centuries to hone his skills. He probably has the whole thing memorized from cover to cover by now.”

“Best for us to hold onto it anyways,” Ladybug decided, glancing around at her companions. “Any other miraculous you sense, Lupa Gris?”

Lupa Gris closed her eyes for a moment, brows furrowed in concentration. “I sense several groups of miraculous,” she replied (through Ayilon). “There is also one north of us a ways by itself. Can you know if it is one of yours?”

Ladybug flipped open her yo-yo and opened the tracker app Max had added. It couldn’t locate all of the Heroes, but it showed enough. “I don’t think that’s one of ours,” she announced. “I’ll–”

“¡Espera!” Lupa Gris shouted, eyes widening in surprise. “¡El Dinosaurio!”

Ladybug’s eyes widened, even before Ayilon translated. “Right,” she decided. “I’ll check on the one north of us with Hato Gozen and Ayilon. Lupa, you and Ryoku go find the Dinosaur Miraculous!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case it isn’t clear yet, Ayilon’s weapon/tool is a violin bow, not the kind you would use to shoot arrows.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For a change, all the English-language dialogue in this chapter is actually in _Spanish_ unless otherwise stated, since Kagami speaks Spanish. This is the only chapter where this is the case.

Ryoku put on a burst of speed to keep up with Lupa Gris, who set a grueling pace, angling northwest away from the riverfront. Ryoku frowned when she realized what area of the city they were approaching. “Can we go around here?” she called. “The embassies are a couple blocks ahead, and I want to avoid that area if I can.”

Lupa Gris slacked her pace slightly and turned left. “Why don’t you want to go near the embassies?” she asked, not taking her eyes off the rooftop she was racing across.

Ryoku jumped across the street in front of her and landed next to Lupa Gris. She let out a breath. “My house is only a couple blocks from the Japanese Embassy,” she admitted. “I do not want to be transformed near my house. My mother is blind, so I am sure that she would recognize my voice whether I am transformed or not. And if Mother hears my voice and someone sees that I am Ryoku, she could learn my identity. And if that happens, she could forbid me to be a hero!”

“She would do that?” Lupa Gris asked, almost stumbling over a loose shingle in her surprise. “If Marco receives a miraculous in a few years, I will certainly worry about him – I’m sure any mother would – but I would never forbid it! I would be proud to know I raised my son to become a hero.”

Ryoku scoffed. “Marinette’s mother said the same thing this morning,” she confessed. “ _My_ mother, however… would never be so understanding. My mother’s only ambition for me is that I will become a world-renowned fencer and succeed her in the family business. My ambitions or desires do not factor into her plans at all. That is why I have to guard my identity so zealously.”

Lupa Gris nodded, a troubled look on her face. “I am sorry to hear that. Until meeting your friends last week, I had never really considered the consequences of letting your identity be known to your team or your family. For our team such considerations have never been an issue, honestly. Our initiates’ families know where they are going and why, and from that moment on most of the people they interact with are at the temple. Out in public it is a different story, of course, but we have no secrets at the temple.”

Ryoku shrugged. “We really do not have that luxury here,” she said. “Other than identities, we tend not to have secrets between heroes, but out in public we have to be careful. We know so little about our enemy, we cannot know who or where his agents are. We have our Headquarters, but most of our life is in the city, not in the Mansion.”

“That being the case, I understand why you guard your identity so fiercely, Ryoku,” Lupa Gris told her. “And I promise I will not say anything to jeopardize that. However, I hope you can trust me in turn – especially if we are going to face someone using the Dinosaur Miraculous.”

“I am… getting better at that.”

“That’s good, because we’re here.”

Lupa Gris held a hand out to stop Ryoku and pointed down at the park in front of them. Looking past her, Ryoku could see a man in a mottled green-and-brown suit with plate ridges running down his spine. The cowl covering his hair and the top of his face displayed a pair of bright red artificial eyes just above his real eyes. He stomped one heavy black combat boot, and the ground beneath him shook.

Ryoku tensed and drew her sword, but held back when Lupa Gris put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head. There was a calculating look in her eyes as she watched the new miraculous user. “Ah, I see,” she murmured. She watched him throw his lasso around a playground slide and throw it up into the air. The slide flew half a block and crashed into the roof of a convenience store. “Untested,” she observed disdainfully. “He has none of Dan’s experience or style. A quick strike might take him out before he knows what’s happening.”

“That works for me,” Ryoku replied, grinning. She withdrew the earpiece from her sword hilt and placed it in her ear, as Lupa Gris did the same. Ryoku pointed her sword at the Dinosaur and shouted, “Lightning Dragon!” He glanced up at the sound, an instant before the bolt of lightning lanced out from her sword straight at his chest.

The Dinosaur shouted something Ryoku couldn’t hear over the crackle of electricity, and a solid wall of dirt rose up in front of him. The wall shattered into swirling dust as the lightning struck. The instant she saw that he’d deflected her attack, Ryoku leapt from the rooftop and landed a few meters in front of the Dinosaur, sword held in front of herself in a defensive posture. She waved her sword in front of her to disperse the cloud of dust separating her from her enemy. “So what are _you_ supposed to be?” she asked in French, arching an eyebrow at him.

“I am Tyran-X!” he declared, spinning his lasso to one side. There was a vicious glint in his eye. “You heroes like everything all neat and orderly; I prefer chaos!” He whipped out with his lasso, aiming to loop it around her head.

Ryoku blocked the rope with her sword, deflecting it to the side, and charged, sword held up to strike. She swung savagely at his head, but he ducked beneath the strike and spun his lasso in front of himself to block her follow-up slash. He stepped backward and she pursued, only for him to drop his lasso-shield, spin around, and aim a roundhouse kick at her head. Ryoku, however, wasn’t there. She bobbed and spun to land behind him and slashed at his neck. Tyran-X flicked his wrist and brought up his lasso to block the attack. He dove forward, dropping his lasso loop to the ground between himself and Ryoku.

“Watch out!” Lupa Gris shouted in Spanish over the communicator, just as Ryoku pursued.

“Di-Nado!” shouted Tyran-X, flicking his wrist to give the lasso loop a tiny twist. A tornado grew within the lasso loop, separating Ryoku from Tyran-X. As the tornado expanded, the trees surrounding the park bent almost entirely over. Their leaves were stripped off and sucked into the funnel cloud, along with the loose sticks and trash strewn over the ground.

Ryoku stabbed her sword blade into the ground at her feet, knelt, and gripped the handle tightly with both hands to keep from being pulled into the swirling funnel. In spite of her best efforts, however, she felt the sword blade pulled out of the ground and was sucked up into the tornado. Ryoku twisted around as she left the ground, brought her sword up, and slashed down at the center of the tornado. “Wind Dragon!” The tornado dispersed as a strong gust of wind blew straight through the funnel, bisecting it. Ryoku fell the three meters back to the ground, rolled to her feet as she landed, and charged.

“You’re doing fine, Ryoku,” Lupa Gris informed her. “He’s used wind and earth already. That just leaves him with fire left.”

“Well, I’m down to just water, too, so we’d better make this quick!” Ryoku grunted.

Tyran-X struck out with his lasso like a whip. Ryoku held out her sword in front of herself to catch the lasso, which wrapped around the sword blade, and tugged, pulling the rope out of his unprepared hands. She flicked her wrist, sending the lasso flying across the park where it landed under a swing set.

Tyran-X’s eyes widened in shock. Ryoku let out a primal roar and leapt, holding her sword in both hands above her head. At the same moment, Lupa Gris leapt from where she’d been watching on a nearby roof and landed behind Tyran-X, her silver war club held in both hands. Tyran-X dove to one side, and Ryoku’s sword strike hit the war club right where his head had been moments before. Ryoku spun to face Tyran-X, her sword coming up parallel to the ground next to her face and her other hand out, pointing at Tyran-X.

Lupa Gris charged him, swinging her war club at his head. Tyran-X ducked beneath the strike, rolled away, and sprang to his feet, just as Ryoku leapt over Lupa Gris, landed in front of him, and lunged at his chest. Tyran-X fell over backward into a handstand, cartwheeled away from them, and landed in a defensive position beside the swing set. He dropped one foot back and placed one leg of the swing set between himself and the two heroes.

“What do you want?” Lupa Gris demanded. Tyran-X gave her a look of confusion, until Ryoku translated.

“You know, _hero_ ,” Tyran-X taunted, scooping his lasso off the ground, “some people don’t _need_ a goal. Some people just want to watch the world burn: In-Di-no!” With that he stomped his boot and lashed a spot in the middle of the street nearby with his lasso. A crack in the ground appeared below his foot and shot out to the spot the lasso had struck, where a circle of pavement collapsed downward and lava bubbled up from below. A car slammed on its brakes meters from the lava, only to be rear-ended by the car behind it and edge forward until its front tires stopped in the growing pool of lava. The car’s front tires burst and melted. Both cars blared their horns, and the cacophony was quickly joined by other cars and their irate drivers as the traffic snarl grew. Instead of staying to watch his handiwork, Tyran-X turned and fled.

“You take care of this!” Lupa Gris shouted to Ryoku, racing off in pursuit. “I’ve got the Dino-Jerk!”

Ryoku nodded and quickly scanned her surroundings. The lava continued to spread beyond the initial hole, which itself grew as more and more pavement melted and fell in. The Seine was too far away for her to use, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. However, Ryoku could see a public restroom on the edge of the park closest to the lava flow. “I really hope no one’s in there…” she muttered. With a grimace, Ryoku pointed her sword at the restroom and shouted, “Water Dragon!” The restroom exploded outward in a cascade of water, which formed together into an expanding globe in the center of what had been the restroom. The orb grew as more water was sucked from the bathroom’s destroyed plumbing. Ryoku lifted her sword, directing the water, and swung it down in an arc, sending the glob of water crashing into the lava flow. The water flash-evaporated, filling the street with steam and obscuring the steadily-growing traffic jam. With a wave, the steam condensed together into a cloud hovering above the street, giving Ryoku an unobstructed view of the results. The lava still oozed sluggishly out of the hole Tyran-X had created, so she slashed downward again. A deluge of rain poured from the cloud onto the street once more.

“I’m sorry! That’s the best I can do for now,” she shouted to the motorists, some of whom were staring at her in openmouthed surprise. “Ladybug will fix this in a bit!” Turning away and running down the same street Lupa Gris had followed Tyran-X, she muttered, “Or at least I _hope_ she will…”


	5. Chapter 5

Ladybug led her group north, running across the rooftops in roughly the direction that Lupa Gris had indicated. How they could have come to this point was beyond her understanding. When the Heroes of Paris defeated both Hawk Moth and Mayura in a single night eight months earlier, Ladybug had assumed that their days of fighting evil miraculous users were behind them. After all, there were only 19 miraculous in the world, and she had _all_ of them! Now, however, none of that was correct. There were far more miraculous than she had realized, and not all were in her hands – or even responsible hands. She had been struck by flashbacks when Lynchpin first arrived on the scene – here was another enemy striking at them from the shadows and manipulating others to do his bidding – but now they were worse. Lynchpin was now using miraculous to do so. Yes, she wasn’t in Paris when Lynchpin stole the Bee Miraculous and recruited Night Bat, but she was right there when Lynchpin’s agents stole the Bear and Dinosaur Miraculous. Did that make it her fault? No, she wasn’t alone when it happened, but all the same…

Swinging on her yo-yo across the Boulevard de Magenta, she glanced behind her to see how the others were doing. Ayilon’s bow let off a hum as she used it to zip-line across the street on a telephone line. She still wasn’t quite sure what to make of the Cicada Miraculous; Ayilon’s costume of mint-green with light yellow accents on the arms and legs did at least meet with approval according to her designer’s sensibilities; the quartet of strings running from her left shoulder down her arm to her wrist, however did not seem to fit from a design standpoint. Now, hearing the deep baritone thrum of the telephone line, Ladybug began to suspect what the Cicada’s ability might actually be. Ayilon landed on the roof a step behind Ladybug, keeping pace with her easily.

Meanwhile, Ladybug had to look to find her other companion, who was not running at all. Instead, Hato Gozen flew through the air above her, held aloft by a pair of wide white wings. Ladybug found herself staring at the sight so intently that it took a shout from Ayilon and a split-second lunge to the right to avoid running headfirst into a chimney.

“Did you use the Flight Power-Up?” she called up to Hato Gozen, gesturing to the wings. “I didn’t think that actually gave wings.”

“No,” the other woman replied shortly. “What’s a ‘Power-Up’?”

“They’re these special potions we can feed to our Kwamis so they can give us specific abilities – protection from cold, swimming, breathing in outer space… There’s a flight one, but I’ve never used it before.”

“Huh.” Hato Gozen shrugged and pumped her wings to soar over a clothesline strung between two apartment buildings. “Never heard of ‘em.”

“Seriously?” Ayilon scoffed. “That was, like, the whole point of our Potion-Making class at the Temple!”

“Well _sorry_ , squirt!” retorted Hato Gozen curtly. “Some of us didn’t learn to be a hero in a school _other_ than the School of Hard Knocks! Everything I ‘learned’ was either my mother trying to keep me alive, or _me_ trying to keep _myself_ alive against a functionally-immortal pseudo-vampire intent on plunging the world into darkness, chaos, and corruption so that he can live on forever and reform it in his own twisted, corrupted image! Somehow, potion-making didn’t exactly fit into the curriculum!”

Ayilon stared at her for a minute, jaw hanging open. Ladybug was about to intervene when Ayilon asked, “Well, yeah, but haven’t you ever heard of Night School?”

Ladybug face-palmed. “Not everyone was raised in a Temple, Ayilon,” she informed her. “My mentor and I had to figure out how to brew Power-Up potions on the fly while sitting on a roof as an Akuma victim flooded Paris around us!”

“Seriously, Bug?” Hato Gozen gave her an evaluating look. “I didn’t take you for the ‘on-the-job training’ type.”

Ladybug shrugged. “We didn’t exactly have much choice with Hawk Moth running loose and trying to steal our miraculous every other Tuesday!”

“Ryoku mentioned she was recruited after you defeated Hawk Moth, but that a lot of your earliest recruits were thrown right into battles.”

She nodded. “That’s pretty much what happened to Cat Noir and me, too. Our first time transforming was also the first time an Akuma appeared in Paris.” She chuckled. “But you’re changing the subject. Where are your wings from?”

“Magic,” replied Hato Gozen, spinning into a roll. “The Dove and Bat both give their users some predisposition toward magic. Wings are pretty simple.”

“Is that something you can teach us?” Ladybug asked, eyes lighting up.

“No.”

“Spoilsport,” muttered Ayilon.

Ladybug giggled and threw her yo-yo to loop around a beam on the construction site across the street from them. However, before she could swing across, she looked down into the site, following the sounds of arguing and shouting. She was not prepared to see a man in an all-black suit with a grey chest leaning against the construction workers’ break trailer while a half-dozen burly construction workers slugged it out trying to stop one of their number from turning his jackhammer against the cement floor of the half-finished building.

“What the–”

“Does Lupa know you use that language?” Ladybug interrupted Ayilon, arching an eyebrow and smirking. She turned back to examine the scene in front of them, focusing especially on the figure she recognized from Viperon and Ryoku’s description of Night Bat. He didn’t appear to have noticed their arrival; his focus was entirely on the scene playing out on the ground, though he was paying more-than-expected attention to the slab of cement. She was about to ask Hato Gozen about this when the other woman shot past them, letting out a guttural scream and aiming directly for Night Bat.

“Bat!!!” she bellowed, naginata held in front of herself with both hands, wings drawn in tight to her sides.

“Wait!” Ladybug yelled, too late.

Five meters from the ground Hato Gozen screamed, unfurled her wings, pulled out of her dive, swung her feet forward, drew back her naginata, and hurled it at Night Bat’s head with all her built-up momentum. Night Bat made no move to protect himself until the naginata was less than a meter away. He leaned to one side and the naginata embedded itself a meter into the trailer wall where his head had been moments earlier. Simultaneously, ropes flew over Hato Gozen’s head, looped around her wings, and pulled taut. She grunted once as she tried desperately to free herself, but the ropes, which Ladybug now noticed had been run through winches on either side of the cement slab, pulled her down, centering her over the slab and burying her feet-first in the cement, encasing her up to her neck. With a start, Ladybug realized that the cement had only been partially-dried; it was rapidly beginning to dry around Hato Gozen, trapping her entire body except one arm and her head. Night Bat pushed himself away from the trailer and walked over to her as a pair of workmen with jackhammers placed their tools against the ends of her wings still uncovered by the cement.

The entire sequence had taken less than twenty seconds.

“Ladybug…” Ayilon muttered, looking at her in shock.

Ladybug shook herself and quickly surveyed the scene. Hato Gozen, trapped and surrounded, snapped her fingers and the wings disappeared. The workmen were clearly under Night Bat’s control somehow. Whatever happened, she couldn’t let Night Bat get to Hato Gozen and steal her miraculous. She glanced at Ayilon. “Right. You keep him distracted,” she ordered. “I’ll handle Hato Gozen.”

Ayilon nodded curtly once and leapt from the building, angling herself toward a point between Night Bat and where Hato Gozen was trapped. She shifted in midair to fall feet first, an instant before her right foot made contact with Night Bat’s collarbone. Ayilon pushed off him into a back-flip, sending Night Bat tumbling backward, and landed with her feet and left hand on the ground, just in front of Hato Gozen and the par-dried cement. She held her bow in her right hand and looked up to find Night Bat, who had collapsed to the ground in surprise and was in the process of using his sword to push himself to his feet.

“Plec-Drone!” Ayilon shouted, bringing her bow up and running it across all four strings on her left arm.

Ladybug pulled an earplug from her yo-yo and stuffed it in the ear without her earpiece a moment before the sound wave reached her. Even so, barely blocked out the deafening noise. Looking over the scene below her, she could see that Night Bat had dropped his sword and fallen to the ground, covering his ears with both hands. The construction workers had stopped what they were doing and all were wincing and looking around themselves in confusion. While Ladybug watched, Hato Gozen winced, closed her eyes, and muttered something under her breath. An orb of light covered her head, and when she opened her eyes they were suddenly calm.

With a last glance at the rest of the construction site, Ladybug jumped off her roof, fastened her yo-yo around a beam on the unfinished building, and dropped down to the ground. She released the beam and looped her yo-yo around the cement truck’s mixer twice, then around Hato Gozen’s arm. Ladybug kicked a couple of the construction workers away from the cement truck and ducked under a crowbar that another worker swung at her head.

Across the construction site, Ayilon had shifted her bow from the strings running down her arm to the building itself, which vibrated and reverberated at a deep pitch that shook the very ground. Night Bat, however, had regained his feet and recovered his sword. He held one hand to his head, his eyes flashed black, and black orbs covered his ears. He sprang at Ayilon, sword held in both hands above his head. Ayilon ducked beneath his slash, which sliced clean through the support strut she had been bowing, and whipped her bow up horizontal to the ground to parry his follow-up strike. She pushed him away and tumbled backwards into a back-flip, opening space between them. He pursued her, grunting in frustration as she weaved in and out of the construction site, ducking behind pillars and spinning around beams, always just out of his reach.

Ladybug, meanwhile, spared a glance for the group of construction workers who had pushed themselves to their feet and begun hemming her in near the cement where Hato Gozen was still stuck. One man charged her, shouting furiously and holding his jackhammer up in both hands. He hit the switch to activate the jackhammer and swung it at her head. Ladybug ducked below the jackhammer and tripped him up. He fell past her, and his jackhammer struck the par-hardened cement a meter from Hato Gozen, digging into it and breaking some of it up. Simultaneously, Ladybug found a cut-off piece of rebar with her foot and kicked it at the control panel along the side of the cement truck. The rebar hit the rotation control and switched it on. The cement truck mixer slowly rotated, pulling the yo-yo taut and dragging Hato Gozen out of the broken-up cement.

Hato Gozen took a deep breath, brushed herself off, muttered, “Calming Breath,” and placed her hand on the forehead of the man with the jackhammer. His eyes glazed over temporarily, and all the construction workers stopped moving.

The man shook his head once, rubbed his forehead, and looked over at Ladybug. “What… what happened?” he asked, blinking in confusion.

Ladybug, however, raced away from them the instant Hato Gozen was free, recalling her yo-yo and charging toward Ayilon and Night Bat. At that moment, Ayilon stumbled over a loose piece of pipe, giving Night Bat an opening. He slashed at her exposed arm with a triumphant shout. Ladybug wrapped her yo-yo around Ayilon, yanked her out of the way, pulled her yo-yo back, and lifted it up, spinning it as a shield and interposing herself between Night Bat and Ayilon without a moment to spare. She caught the slash on her shield, spun around, and elbowed Night Bat hard in the gut. He stumbled back, took one look at the three heroes now arrayed against him, turned on his heels, and fled.

“Come on!” Ladybug shouted to the others, racing after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Cicada is the Miraculous of Annoyance, and its ability is essentially making cicada noises (but on steroids). If you don’t think cicada noise can be weaponized, I challenge you to live in a cicada area!


	6. Chapter 6

Ryoku put on a burst of speed when Lupa Gris turned less than a block ahead of her, following Tyran-X into the warehouse district. She turned the corner a moment later to see Lupa Gris with her war club held up in one hand, meters behind Tyran-X. Beyond them, Night Bat raced in their direction, with Ladybug, Ayilon, and Hato Gozen barely visible behind him. Dimly, Ryoku was aware of the insistent beeping of her choker, indicating that she would de-transform shortly. She knew she should have recharged sooner, but she hadn’t wanted to lose the pursuit. She put on a burst of speed in an attempt to catch up to Lupa Gris.

Ahead of her, Lupa Gris suddenly stopped in the middle of the street, reared back her head, and Howled. In that moment, Ryoku felt a sudden burst of adrenaline course through her veins and raced past Lupa Gris. The beeping from her miraculous stopped; a glance at her sword showed that all her abilities had recharged. _I could get used to this!_

Movement ahead of her caught Ryoku’s attention. Night Bat had drawn his sword and turned to face his pursuers, at the same moment that Hato Gozen sprouted wings, took flight, and drew back to throw her naginata. Glancing from her to the two enemies in front of them, Ryoku knew her target. “Lightning Dragon!” she shouted, holding her arms out and leaping into the air. Lightning crackled through her eyes and her body flashed into a bolt of lightning. With no more than a thought, the lightning arced across the distance separating her from Night Bat, aiming to strike his head. At the same moment, as if in slow motion, Hato Gozen hurled her naginata past Night Bat, directly at Tyran-X. The projectile and lightning bolt crossed midway between Night Bat and Tyran-X.

Lightning-Ryoku found herself diverted from Night Bat’s head and instead struck the metal of his upraised sword and coursed down through his sword arm. His arm shook and convulsed, and his sword clattered to the ground. Ryoku rematerialized directly in front of him and swung her sword, aiming to take off his head. Night Bat held up his other arm, clenched his fist, and muttered a single word. His eyes flashed black. Ryoku’s blade stopped millimeters from his arm, impacting against a black disk that had just appeared.

Meanwhile, behind Night Bat, Tyran-X had stepped away from the naginata and looped his lasso around it as it passed him. He swung it around at an angle and released the naginata straight back at Hato Gozen. Above Ryoku’s head, Hato Gozen twisted away from the naginata in midair and caught its shaft as it flew past her. She spared a single glance for Ryoku and Night Bat before flying past and dropping down in front of Tyran-X. Her wings disappeared and she swung her naginata at a downward angle as she landed, putting the full force of her descent behind the blow. Tyran-X raised his lasso to block the strike, falling back a pace and bending his legs to cushion the strike. Hato Gozen shortened the naginata handle and closed the distance, aiming for his exposed side and causing him to leap away. As he was occupied with Hato Gozen, Ladybug looped her yo-yo around Tyran-X’s leg and yanked. He stumbled and fell to the ground but shouted, “Dino-Quake,” a moment before he landed. The ground shook around him as the earthquake rippled out from where he fell, sending Hato Gozen stumbling to one knee.

Night Bat, meanwhile, spun around Ryoku, pulling her off-balance. He found his sword with one foot, kicked it up, and caught it with one hand. In the same motion he shifted it in his grip and swung around, taking a wild slash at Ryoku’s back. Ayilon interposed her bow, however, parried the attack, and pushed him back, following up the parry by dropping to the ground to sweep his legs out from under him. Ryoku regained her balance and spun around to rejoin the fight. So focused was Night Bat on his duel with Ayilon that he didn’t notice Ryoku.

“¡Baja!” Ryoku shouted. [Duck!]

Ayilon instantly dropped to a crouch, moments before Ryoku slashed straight through the space where she had been standing. Night Bat fell back a pace and parried desperately, readying his sword with mere centimeters to spare. Ryoku pressed the attack, dodging to one side and lunging forward. Instantly Night Bat was knocked onto his back foot. Ryoku continued forward, not giving him a second to catch his breath, lunging to exploit his exposed stomach. Night Bat sidestepped away from the attack, and Ryoku shifted the lunge into a slash, which Night Bat blocked.

Ayilon called, “¡Derecha!” [Right!]

Ryoku bobbed to the right, drawing Night Bat in that direction and exposing his side. Ayilon was there in an instant. She kicked Night Bat in the shoulder with both feet and flipped away to land in a crouch, braced herself with her bow, and sprang back with a punch. Night Bat lifted his elbow to block her punch, giving Ryoku an opening to strike at his opposite shoulder. He parried that slash, but Ryoku pressed the attack with another slash. Ayilon dropped to the ground and swept his legs out from under him, but he jumped over the sweep and retreated another pace. A glance showed that the others had pushed Tyran-X back toward the warehouse to their left. Wordlessly, Ryoku attacked Night Bat and forced him in the same direction until he and Tyran-X were standing next to each other, meters from the warehouse door. The five heroes formed a tight semicircle around the two villains hemming them in and cutting off their escape. Ladybug stood in the center of the group, yo-yo spinning in front of her, with Hato Gozen and Lupa Gris to her right. Ryoku stood to Ladybug’s left, crouched down in a defensive stance, with Ayilon on her other side.

“In-Di-no!” shouted Tyran-X, stomping one foot. A seam in the ground shot out directly at Ladybug. A pit opened up in the ground beneath her feet, and she stumbled in the sudden, oppressive heat.

Ryoku dove and pushed Ladybug away from the suddenly-forming lava pit. Ladybug fell over, caught herself, and rolled to her feet, yo-yo already back up in a shield. Ryoku, however, stumbled on the lip of the lava pit and fell backward. “Water Dragon!” she called, and transformed to water an instant before the lava bubbled up from below. Water-Ryoku fell into the lava and flash-evaporated. With a thought, Ryoku condensed into liquid form and reappeared on the far side of the lava pit. Ayilon had already charged forward, swinging her bow at Night Bat in retaliation. Ryoku stepped in beside her and parried a strike Ayilon had missed, pushing Night Bat back.

“It’s over!” Hato Gozen shouted, brandishing her naginata. “Give it up, Bat!”

Night Bat smirked devilishly. Ryoku narrowed her eyes suspiciously and advanced a pace. Night Bat and Tyran-X jumped away from the heroes, toward the warehouse, and vanished into thin air. Ryoku slashed angrily at the spot where they had been, only for her sword to meet resistance in midair.

Ryoku stared at the warehouse in confusion. “What–”

“Lucky Charm!” screamed Ladybug. “Get behind me!”

On instinct, Ryoku dove back, away from the warehouse. She rolled to her feet behind Ladybug just before Ayilon copied the move. No sooner had they returned to their feet than Ladybug brought up her yo-yo, spinning it in one hand as a shield and holding a red rectangular shield as large as herself in her other hand. The shield had been in place only a fraction of a second when the space in front of the warehouse erupted with the discharge of dozens of energy weapons, all directed at the group of heroes. A man in a sleek mechanized exo-suit appeared from thin air on the far side of the warehouse, stomped a heavy foot, and aimed the cannons mounted on both his arms at the group. Ryoku remembered Queen Bee’s description of “Mecha Man,” the Lynchpin’s first iteration of the man in the exo-suit, whom the Owl and Jagged Stone had defeated months ago. She had thought Chloe was teasing her at the time, but now she could see the proof of the story. This “Mecha-Man 2.0” fired two massive energy pulses at them from his energy cannons, followed by a rocket from his back. Hato Gozen shouted something and held both hands out. The energy was absorbed into a rapidly-expanding disk which appeared centimeters in front of her hands. She clapped, and the disk collapsed into a single point which pierced straight through the rocket, detonating it midway between Mecha-Man 2.0 and the small group of heroes.

“What’s happening!?!” Ryoku demanded over the noise, twirling her sword to block the falling shrapnel from the rocket.

“Blow them away!” Ladybug ordered, not taking her eyes off the warehouse, even as she shifted her yo-yo to provide better protection to Lupa Gris on her other side.

Ryoku leapt five meters in the air and shouted, “Wind Dragon!” She slashed horizontally with her sword, and a gust of wind blew from right to left in front of the warehouse. The energy beams cut off and shot wildly in all directions as though their invisible sources were scattered and knocked around by the wind. The gust struck Mecha-Man 2.0 straight-on, knocking him flat on his back. He rolled from side to side, trying to roll himself over onto his stomach.

Before the heroes could regroup, however, a dozen men in black robes wielding quarterstaffs appeared from the warehouses on either side of the one they were facing. Ryoku’s eyes darted between the two groups. One of the newcomers, who wore red instead of black, stopped to help Mecha-Man 2.0 to his feet. Where did all of these enemies keep coming from? How much more of this could they take? Their chances of defeating Night Bat and Tyran-X and recovering their miraculous dropped with every new threat that appeared.

“Time to retreat and regroup!” Ladybug shouted, obviously having come to the same conclusion as Ryoku. “Ayilon!”

Ayilon grinned and brought her bow up to the strings on her left arm. “Plec-Drone!”

Ryoku was not prepared for the earsplitting noise that emitted from Ayilon as she played. Ryoku lifted both hands to cover her ears, trying desperately to keep her sanity. A glance at the enemies surrounding them showed that none of them had fared better than she had. Many had already fallen to their knees; a couple had dropped to the ground and curled up in a fetal position, their hands covering their ears. Ryoku followed the rest of the heroes in racing away from the scene, even as Ayilon continued to play, only stopping when they had put at least three blocks between them and the warehouse.

“I see now why you people prefer working together over operating alone,” Hato Gozen commented, letting out a relieved breath.

“Teamwork certainly has its benefits!” Ladybug agreed, smiling. She hefted her Lucky Charm-shield on one arm, threw it in the air, and called, “Miraculous Ladybug!”

“But what was all of that?” Hato Gozen demanded, staring at Ladybug. “I didn’t know that the Bat was capable of such a feat as a spell that creates a barrier which would prevent a miraculous user from passing through. If he were, I would have expected him to use it against me well before now!”

Ladybug glanced over at Lupa Gris, a troubled look in her eyes. The look was mirrored in Lupa Gris’s eyes. Ryoku frowned. What could it mean?

“After this, I think we have some questions that need answering,” Ladybug observed, frowning.

Ryoku raised an eyebrow at her cryptic answer.

Ladybug explained, “We need to go and have a talk with the _other_ guest staying at the mansion.”


	7. Chapter 7

Ladybug stormed through the mansion’s hallways, barely thinking about the path she was following. Why M. Agreste had thought his mansion needed two full front wings plus a back wing, two floors, an attic, and no less than a dozen bedrooms was _far_ beyond her comprehension, especially when he presented himself to all the world as such a surly recluse! Sometimes she wondered if living here really was the best option for Adrien. His memories of this house were… mixed, to say the least.

On the one hand, he insisted that some of his best childhood memories were in this house and involved his mother. She would listen to him practice his piano every day. She would read him stories and play hide-and-seek all around the enormous mansion. She played games with him and encouraged his love of video games. And when he expressed disinterest in learning Japanese, she bought him his first manga to encourage him to study it.

On the other hand, Adrien also admitted that he could count on one hand the number of positive memories involving the Agreste Mansion between his mother’s supposed death and his father’s arrest. The piano his mother loved became a burden his father demanded that he play. The enormous mansion full of hiding places became an empty labyrinth. The room full of books and games and movies became nothing but a gilded cage. Without his mother’s love, the house was filled with his father’s neglect.

Since Adrien took over his father’s assets, the two of them (and their friends) had worked tirelessly to fill the house with positive memories. Adrien used the enormous mansion to host movie nights for all of their friends, when there were too many people to fit in her parents’ living room. Nino and Max came over to play video games on a regular basis. And of course, they had transformed his father’s lair into the Heroes of Paris Headquarters.

But the best catharsis had come a week before they left for America, when Marinette had finally convinced Adrien to “redecorate” his father’s office.

She didn’t think she’d ever seen Plagg so happy before; he was almost giddy as Adrien transformed, destroyed the desk, ripped the chairs apart, and stomped everything down to a fine powder. Of course, Plagg had been in Adrien’s pocket through some of the worst of M. Agreste’s neglect. Since then, Adrien had been far happier and lighter in his attitude when going to and from the elevator to Headquarters.

That Adrien was happy to welcome guests to stay at the mansion was a definite step in the right direction as far as his efforts at recovery were concerned.

She stopped in front of the door to one of the bedrooms in the back wing and waited for the other four heroes to catch up. Seeing the question in Ryoku’s eyes, she explained, “We made another friend in America who came back with us.” She nodded up at the tiny security camera above the door. “He didn’t exactly try to _kill_ us when we met him… but he didn’t exactly _not_ … so he’s a guest we’re keeping a very close eye on.”

Lupa Gris nodded once Ayilon had translated. “That sounds prudent,” she replied.

Ryoku’s look of confusion deepened. “That… didn’t clarify anything,” she commented, raising an eyebrow. “What the hell _happened_ to you last week!?!”

In response, Ladybug tapped on the door, waited a minute for an acknowledgement, and pushed it open. She stepped inside, followed by the others, to find Pedro wearing a clean brown set of his Acolyte’s robes and sitting on the floor in the lotus position, eyes closed and palms resting on the floor. “Good evening, Pedro,” she greeted him in English when he opened one eye and looked up at her. “We came across something today that might interest you.”

Pedro shifted to a kneeling position, stood up, and moved to sit on his bed. “And what might that be?” he asked, staring at her with an expression of utmost disinterest. “I already agreed to speak with your tech expert later this week. What is this about?”

“A force field that acted like the ones we encountered at the Dark Acolyte Temple,” she informed him. “It hid whatever was on the other side and prevented us from passing through, but the miraculous abusers we fought were able to escape through it.”

Pedro cocked his head in confusion and leaned forward. “As far as I know, that is an ability that only the Acolytes possess,” he informed her slowly. “But that would mean…” He trailed off, lost in thought, before he shook his head and explained, “The force field in question is generated via chi and can be focused through an artifact. Doing so – imbuing an artifact with enough chi to sustain the field – allows us to make it semi-permanent without needing an Acolyte to focus on it at all times. I suppose it would be possible for a skilled practitioner to modify the barrier in such a way that the users of specific miraculous could pass through, but… I can’t imagine the Dark Acolytes needing such a thing. Of course,” he added, chuckling mirthlessly, “given what I now know of the Acolytes and their hypocrisy, how far they have fallen from the ideals they taught us…” He frowned. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised anymore that they would join with miraculous abusers and create such barriers for their own allies to use!”

“Is this an ability you possess?” Lupa Gris asked.

Pedro shook his head. “I understand the basic process – all Novices practice the skill – but I cannot make a barrier that is selectively-permeable, and I do not have the correct artifact to focus the chi through to make it semi-permanent,” he explained. “To adapt the barrier in this way would take a high-level master, and when I left there were only a handful of Acolytes with that level of skill. I can, however, recognize the Dark Acolytes’ magic and find ways around it. If you wish, I can examine this barrier for you.”

Ladybug opened her mouth to respond but shut it again when her yo-yo chimed. She glanced down, read the new message, and shook her head. “Thank you for the offer, but that is not necessary at the moment,” she told him. She glanced over at the others and continued, “I sent Viperion, Bengalia, and ‘Sk8r Girl’–” _why did Alix insist on that name?_ “–to check the warehouse out, and the barrier was gone entirely by the time they arrived. Night Bat must have packed up and left shortly after we did.”

Hato Gozen looked perturbed but nodded. “He is rather a clever monster,” she admitted. “Now that he has this trick, doubtless he will use it as much as he can. He probably has a few different locations around town covered by these barriers to move between. As soon as we find one, he’ll move to the next – we probably will never get near his actual base unless he wants us to. That’s how he has stayed a step ahead of me for so long.”

Ryoku fixed her gaze on Hato Gozen and commented, “You realize this was probably all an elaborate trap he set up for _you_ , right? He was hoping to catch you alone and off-guard, but all of us turned up and threw him off his game.”

Hato Gozen frowned. “Yes, I suppose that is right,” she confessed. She turned to Ladybug and Ayilon. “I owe the two of you my thanks for helping me out today.”

“You are very welcome,” Ladybug assured her. “And after all of this, we would be absolutely honored to have you stay here as our guest for as long as you are in Paris. I know you do not trust easily, but _I_ am willing to trust you after today. I would not make this offer if I was unwilling to trust. This mansion is the Headquarters for the Heroes of Paris… and it is also my fiancé’s house, so I am trusting you with both of our identities now, too.” Ladybug smiled and de-transformed. _When did I get so comfortable with sharing my identity?_


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of the Heroes of Paris are in this chapter (even if not mentioned), so here’s the rundown of the non-canon Heroes, minus the ones who’ve already appeared:
> 
> Impératrice Pourpre – Sabrina (Butterfly Miraculous)  
> Taureau Dechaine – Ivan (Ox Miraculous)  
> Multiplice – Mylène (Mouse Miraculous)  
> Bengalia – Juleka (Tiger Miraculous)  
> Miss Pinky – Rose (Pig Miraculous)  
> Geber – Nathaniel (Rooster Miraculous)  
> Sk8r Girl – Alix (no miraculous)

Kagami hit the buzzer on the Agreste Mansion’s front door with her elbow, careful not to jostle the two dishes in her hands. She had told the chef that one dish of yakiniku was probably sufficient – this was a “potluck,” and everyone would be bringing something, after all – but her mother had insisted that she come prepared. “After all,” she had reminded Kagami as she left, “Agreste Fashion is our most important client in Paris and it is essential that we maintain that relationship!”

Kagami stepped back from the door, and a moment later it swung open as Marinette ushered her inside. “Sorry for making you wait,” she apologized, taking the dishes out of Kagami’s hands. “Taureau Dechaine and Multiplice arrived five minutes before you did, and we got caught up in talking a little longer than I had planned. You’re the last arrival, so we can head downstairs as soon as you transform!”

“Longg, Bring the storm!” Kagami grinned. “Let’s go before the food’s all gone!”

Ryoku accepted one of the dishes back, and Marinette led the way up to the now-empty office and over to the elevator. Ryoku sidestepped a paint can and took her place on the elevator plate, where Marinette joined her. “At first I wanted to have everyone in the dining room,” Marinette told her as the elevator activated, “but Adrien didn’t think there would be enough _room_ for us up here! Plus there are so many windows, and if anyone saw all the heroes transformed and milling around our dining room they would be really confused. And _then_ it would have been a little harder for everyone to arrive separately and transform in the entryway, since the dining room is _right there_ …” She sighed and shook her head. “I didn’t realize how much of a logistical nightmare this would turn into when I suggested it! If I had… maybe we would have rented out Le Grand Paris or something.”

“Well,” Ryoku replied, arching an eyebrow at her and smirking, “there’s a reason you’re the leader, Mar: no one _else_ could have managed to organize something like this! Or would have been crazy enough to try…”

“Um, thanks.”

The elevator plate slid into the ground and Ryoku looked out to see all the Heroes of Paris spread out around the butterfly garden. Geber was staring in awe at the massive alien spaceship resting along the cave wall beside Pegasus’ lab. On the far side of the garden, Anansi and the Owl were arguing with Carapace about something. Marco was sitting against one wall trying to catch a butterfly, with Miss Pinky, Bengalia, and Impératrice Pourpre all sitting around him. As she watched, Impératrice Pourpre called a butterfly into her hand and set it on Marco’s nose. The toddler scrunched up his face and started giggling, causing the butterfly to flutter away just out of his reach.

Ryoku and Marinette walked down the path toward the half-dozen folding tables filled with food. They found a free spot to set down their dishes, and Ryoku helped herself to some food from the buffet. Near the doors to the meeting room, she could see Lupa Gris in what appeared to be an intense conversation with Chloe.

Seeing the question in Ryoku’s eyes, Marinette whispered, “Lupa is trying to get a sense of the Bee Miraculous from Chloe. She’s not hopeful, but thinks it’s a possibility.”

Ryoku nodded and let her eyes wander around the rest of the cave. She could hear string music from near the grotto, and saw Ayilon and Viperion playing their respective miraculous instruments while Adrien accompanied them on an electric keyboard. Ryoku was about to go over and join Multiplice and Taureau Dechaine in listening to them when she realized who was missing.

“Where is Hato Gozen?” she asked, looking around the garden.

Marinette frowned in disappointment. “I invited her, but she said she didn’t feel like coming.” She shrugged. “I wish she had, but at least Lupa Gris got a read on her miraculous this week.”

Ryoku groaned and handed her plate to Marinette. “I’ll be back,” she announced, taking off toward the elevator.

“Third bedroom on the left!” Marinette called after her.

Ryoku rode the elevator to the main level in silence, stormed out of the office, and counted bedrooms until she found the correct one. The door was open, but she stopped in the doorway. Hato Gozen sat on the bed, Night Bat’s book in her hand, leafing through it absently. Ryoku knocked on the doorframe, and she glanced up. “Everyone’s here,” Ryoku told her. “Don’t you want to meet the team?”

Hato Gozen shook her head. “Look, I’m grateful for your help; you and Viperion have been great – you both really saved me last week. Marinette and Adrien are both amazing. I can’t thank your friends enough for letting me stay here, and I am glad to have some help from your team in trying to stop Night Bat one and for all. But that still doesn’t make me a part of your team.”

Ryoku examined her closely. _At times like these,_ she thought, _Viperion’s intuitive ability to read people would come in really useful._ She gestured into the room, and Hato Gozen gave a noncommittal shrug. Ryoku stepped into the room and sat down in the desk chair. “Believe it or not,” she began, “I actually understand. Until very recently, my mother made it almost impossible for me to make friends or even get close to anyone. Everyone my own age that I knew, it was because Mother wanted it, not because I wanted it – even Adrien. I struggled to trust others, even after Ladybug gave me the Dragon Miraculous.

“I had no idea how hard trust could be.” She shook her head ruefully. “I’ve _had_ to learn to trust people – you should ask Viperion some time about the first time we ever teamed up. I died a couple of times; it was fun. Last week put me so far out of my comfort zone in having to trust you, more than almost anyone else. And I don’t just mean with the hero stuff. The apartment you stayed in was one my mother keeps for clients to use when they are in town. We have a client arriving tomorrow, which is why I asked Marinette about finding a new place for you last weekend. I was worried the whole week you were there that Mother would come to inspect, or that she would find out the utilities bill was higher than it should have been, or that _you_ might find something with my name or her name or the company on it. If you had met her under those circumstances, there would have been no way for me to keep my secret, and Mother would have forced me to give up my miraculous. So I trusted you not to blow my secret on me.”

Ryoku took a deep breath. “So I understand why trust doesn’t come easily for you. But I think I’m ready to trust you a little further, especially if it will help you to trust me and my friends more. I don’t have many friends, but I would be honored to have you as one of them. You don’t have to do anything, but I hope you’ll give me and my friends a chance.” She closed her eyes and whispered. “Longg, Open sky.” Opening her eyes, she smiled and said, “My name is Kagami.”

Hato Gozen looked at her expressionlessly for a long minute. Kagami found herself chewing on her bottom lip nervously. She was about to excuse herself and leave when Hato Gozen sighed in resignation and said, “Paxx, Cleansed heart.”

Kagami stood up and held out her hand. The other woman got up and took it. “I’m Mira.”


End file.
